Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the middle of a Wisconsin winter

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We can get a lot of volunteer plants every year too from tossed produce, they always seem more vigorous than the originals and I'm happy to not have to weed them. I think I seen blue pumpkins in the books, sounds fun.

 

[21hens-incharge]

This year although I plan a large garden I know I will continue to battle the clay soil we have. I have given up amending it much and started doing raised beds.
I will have my work cut out for me come building the beds time. I am so into getting a garden going I schedule time off of work to get it in the ground. I am sure this year will be like many others.... time off scheduled and freak snow storm or heavy rain.

Last fall I did a huge flower bed in the front yard. There are hundreds of bulbs in the ground waiting on spring to burst forth with a show.
I learned that if you order a few bulbs there are companies out there that LOVE to send you special offers.... offers that are to hard to resist.

My main goal in the veggie gardens this year is to get enough to be able to can and pickle a few things. It is a learning experience for me. One that I find I really enjoy. I put my headphones on and pull weeds or tend plants. Before I realize how long I have been out there it has gotten dark and I have actually missed making dinner altogether.

I have been composting chicken house leavings in a two bin system I built. It should be good to go come planting time. I also put the coop cleanings out on the garden from the time I pull the plants up until the first of the new year. They finish over the rest of the winter decomposing as much as they can then I like to hand turn them in.
I find using a big tiller is noisy and kind of annoying as it chops weed roots allowing more to grow.

So far I have received 3 seed catalogs in the mail and also got hit by the displays at the hardware store. I think I ended up with Okra, pole beans, bush beans, peas, carrots, 3 kinds of radish, spinach, cabbage and lettuce seeds.

I am looking forward to seeing how everyone's gardens do and learning from all the successes and yes the failed items too.

 

[birds4kids]

We can get a lot of volunteer plants every year too from tossed produce, they always seem more vigorous than the originals and I'm happy to not have to weed them. I think I seen blue pumpkins in the books, sounds fun.

Best I found for pie, very meaty.


I have terrible clay too been using gypsum and while I know it is environmentally bad peat moss, mulched leaves from the yard, any pine I trim I try and leave on the garden to drop needles before burning the branches. Made pretty good progress on making it less tacky at least, I used to get taller with each step if it was wet because it clung to shoes so bad. Organic matter is a magic bullet but hard to get enough in, gypsum helps if the soil is low calcium.

Chickens are a new addition for me so till now I used to buy "coop poop" fertilizer, this spring though it will be shavings and less processed poop.

 

[21hens-incharge]

One thing with using "fresh" chicken leavings in the garden.... They are high in ammonia and nitrogen. It can burn the plants so be very very sparing with the fresh leavings.
I actually had a tough to kill patch of thistle in the corner of my yard. I dumped the droppings board stuff on it daily for an entire summer. It even killed the thistle.
Now 4 years later I have a lovely shrub planted there.

I compost in the bins for one full year and the stuff I toss on the garden in the fall I stop by the new year to give it some time to rot.

I would not want you to go through all the work of planting to lose the garden to fresh poo on the plants.

I think I need to get me a soil tester too. I have been working this section of the yard for 12 years now and may need a read on what it has in it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We pile our poop for the year, than in the fall after all crops are removed we reform our raised beds some what than on goes the fall leaves and more grass clippings which are used as mulch all spring and summer, we then top dress the beds with the seasoned manure after planting my garlic, when the garlic comes up in the spring I peel back the organic layer, broad cast seed my cold crops and put the layer back, I'm out harvesting when others are just starting their gardens. No other fertilizers have been used in 15 years, I have wonderful fluffy organic soil full of worms which help feed my plant.

21hens I hope you share pictures of all those bulbs, I am excited to see how it all turned out.

birds4kids, we have horrible clay soil too, it took about 2-3 years of adding organic matter to really start to see results, I think the key is to tend the worms in your soil and they will feed the plants, and aerated the soil and help incorporate all that organic matter, I think of them as my little tillers.

 

[birds4kids]

Yeah I know I have to be careful with fresh manure, with a 35x60 garden and 6 layers and 5 silkies though I think it is manageable, not like I have 30 chickens and a 10x20 garden.

Worms aren't only good for the garden but great entertainment for the kids.

 

[SilverPenny]

I've been scouring the online sales for plants too. I thought it was only me!

This past spring, I planted flowers in anticipation of my wedding in a few years so I could get out of paying a florist, and added 500 tulips and hyacinths this fall. I swore up and down that I wouldn't plant more after that, but look at me now. I'm planning on adding even more foliage to the wedding area in the spring. Not sure if this is going to kill me or not, but it's gonna happen.

The boy is insane. He's planning on doing a 1 acre garden of corn, zucchini, and watermelon. Neither one of us has planted veggies ever. I don't know if he knows how much work it'll be, and we're both already pretty busy just with life. He's also planning to compost, but I honestly don't even know if he knows it has to sit before we can use it. Questions, questions, questions...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

No better way to learn than to try. That's a lot of bulbs, I did like 100 one year and my wrist hurt so bad, by the end I'm not sure if I even planted them right, I used a hand bulb planter. Gardening is as addictive as chickens.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I think I am beyond excited at gardening this year. Last year was the first year I can say I really saw a lot of worms in the gardens. I attribute it to all the chicken stuff I had spread on the garden. I feel like this year may be a great one!
Last year I had 8 foot tall tomato plants. It was very encouraging to have so many tomatoes. I canned a lot of them so we are still enjoying them in all the winter soups and stews.
I am just really getting the hang of getting things to really take off and produce so learning is my main goal.

I find I am tired of watering and mowing grass as it really does nothing for the family. DH is in on removing all the grass from the back yard or at least helping me make raised beds.

Has anyone reading this had luck with okra in the north? It is one of those really hard to find fresh things in the grocery around here so I am going to do my best to get some growing.

I love the idea of sneaking a few veggie plants in the flower beds. I may have to give that a go too.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I am debating okra, I've never actually eaten it because it sounds like Ohpra. I should try it. I am guilty of buying more seeds at the home depot today, I really need to take inventory before this gets out of hand. I bought mostly beets and zinnias.

Those are tall tomato plants, I trim mine and they flop over a lot so maybe they are taller than they appear. I'm getting hungry now.

I stopped canning, now I freeze stuff but I need a bigger freezer.